Housing prices in Squamish have soared 25 per cent in the past year and overall prices in Greater Vancouver are up nearly 10 per cent, newly released figures show.

The median selling price of a detached home in Squamish was $282,000 in May.

The benchmark price of a single family home in Vancouver was $418,060, up 9.6 per cent from a year ago.

“The great news for buyers and sellers is that interest rates are continuing at record lows,” said Bill Binnie, president of the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

“Mortgage rates are the lowest we’ve seen in over 50 years.”

Reg Davies, head of the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board, said there was an encouraging increase in listings last month, giving buyers a greater choice.

Median year-over-year price increases for single-family houses in other areas of Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley ranged from 0.4 per cent in Mission to more than 14 per cent in Abbotsford.

On the Sunshine Coast, the median selling price was $201,000 in May, an increase of 5.7 per cent from $190,000 a year earlier.

The highest sale prices were recorded in West Vancouver at $695,000 and Vancouver‘s west side at $675,000.

The average sale price of a Surrey home was $286,166, an increase of eight per cent from a year ago.

Apartment prices in Greater Vancouver were up by 9.6 per cent to $194,220 from a year earlier and townhouse prices were up 10.8 per cent to $268,830.

Overall, the number of sales fell slightly in Greater Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

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